I think that we have a serious institutional problem in Luanda related to the incapacity of urban authorities to grant land tenure rights, even to those families living in planned settlements. Even those living in Panguila and Zango often do not have clear legal occupation titles. Without land tenure, banks are unwilling to provide housing loans (mortgages). This is one of the principal reasons that much of the new housing stock (that Vanessa mentioned) remains unoccupied. Few families have the cash to be able to pay the full price for a new home. We wait anxiously for the new Fundo de Fomento Habitacional to be fully functioning but I am certain that loans from this mechanism will only be available in cases where families have full legal occupation rights.

The key factor for the formation of peri-urban areas of the metropolis is decentralization and the need to empty the city center which is currently overcrowded. With the war many people came from the provinces to the city of Luanda looking response to their financial problems , and housing professionals, making it the city of Luanda one of the most popular destinations. The way the government arranged to decentralize the city was creating citys centers or remote areas in order to attract people, but now we have another problem, like Allan said, that is due to the high price of the homes that makes people not able to buy homes in these make shift town called new centers, making these remain empty, like Zango, Kilamba and Cacuaco centrality, but the Capital –Luanda continues crowded and disorganized due to the anarchic constructions increasing the index of pollution, poverty and excessive car traffic .

Allan Cain - Sunday, 30 September 2012, 03:57 PMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Dear Etelvina,As you know Luanda has both inner city slums/musseques and slums or informal settlements in the peri-urban areas around the city. The old musseques are sometimes adjacent and intertwined with the city's central business district (CBD). I don't think that it should be our objective as planner to reduce the population density of the inner city. You will notice that the CBD is mainly empty of people on the weekends and in the evenings because the residential areas are in the high density musseques and in the periphery of the city. With increasing inner-city land prices, there is already beginning a "gentrification" process in some areas like Bairro Operario with old residents selling their properties (on the informal market) and moving to the suburbs.

We are measuring some decreasing densities in the old inner city musseques due to this migration to the periphery. I think that these older areas could eventually support a relatively dense occupation in a healthy city centre. The gentrification is already resulting in the traditional one-story slum hutments being transformed into multi-story low-rise buildings. This can result in more space being freed up for roads, green spaces and for other services such as better water supply and improved access for rubbish removal.

I do not think that those living in Luanda's informal settlements build in an anarchic way because they know that the land is not theirs. Our recent study shows that the large majority of residents in musseques do consider that they are the legitimate owners of land that they have built on. In the past, they usually made the best decisions that they could in an environment where urban planners had not provided them with any clear orientations. I am attaching an article on Luanda Post-War Land markets. Contact me if you want a copy of the full study.Best RegardsAllan Cain

Dear Allan, Post conflict cities like Luanda with strong migratory pressures, it's necessary have specific legislation for migrants that create a transition urban area on the fringes or peri-urban areas, with basic evolutive infrastructure and services, with a strong urban agriculture and agro-industry. Would be adjacent to the green belt of the city, which would serve as the stage of urban acculturation for the migrant population before entering in caotic and dense suburban areas.

Ilídio Daio - Tuesday, 2 October 2012, 07:47 PMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Dear Soumya and colleagues,Luanda population is growing 8% a year. The peri-urban areas of Luanda are growing faster than other areas of the city, and grow in a "Necklace" shape. There are various types of land use from industrial, sporting, agricultural, educational, but being the most predominant housing. The most critical issues found in these peri-urban areas are: - Discontinuity and lack of coordination between the various urban settlements - The class 1 green belt is being threatened - There is a strong market and informal land by traditional communities without lawful state. - The location of the waste landfill in an environmentally sensitive area

Reading Ellen Pratt post, i see some differences in Monrovia concerning to flooding risks that we do not have in Luanda peri-urban areas, as well as industrial land use that was considered in Luanda plans.

Thanks everyone. More comments:- Peri-urban areas in Jakarta are substantial in size, also Luanda. Thanks, Ilidio for a very clear map. What is the scale of unplanned peri-urban developments in your city? That can give us an idea of the magnitude of issues and resources needed to resolve them

- High-income housing in Jakarta - as in Delhi(also in Jacksonville, US, but for different reasons). Do we see similar trends in your city? It seems paradoxical that peri-urban areas are preferred by both low-income and high-income communities for apparently the same reasons – lower land prices. However, for low income families, a peri-urban residence may be the only one that they can afford albeit without basic services, while for the high-income, it may be a second residence with all services available within a gated complex. Would it be possible to leverage housing policies to accommodate both types of housing requirements in a mutually beneficial and environmentally planned way? Thanks, Abhijit, for very interesting suggestions.

- Perhaps we have an answer to peri-urban slums in Allan’s paper on land markets in Luanda – thanks for sharing. The argument that informality-formality can coexist is quite compelling. How can we extend this approach further to ensure that the government or private developers have access to resources that can ensure services in such peri-urban areas. And if services are provided, will the land values increase beyond the capacity of the low-income families. What sort of policies can make land markets equitable?

- In Luanda, waste landfill is located on environmentally sensitive lands in peri-urban areas. Peri-urban areas in Backa Palanka – as in Krusevac - have no development pressure, but problems exist when developments do not conform to plan. What kind of land use instruments can ensure compliance with municipal plans to guide infrastructure investments and protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive peri-urban lands?

- Peri-urban developments in Luanda are discontinuous in Luanda – as in many other cities. This makes it difficult to plan for and govern. Bogota’s regional approach shows promise although it appears to have not prevented proliferation of peri-urban slums. Thanks, Danijela for very pertinent questions. How can we make regional plans more flexible and realistic to the urbanization processes?

Dear Soumya,The unplanned peri-urban areas it's about 250 km2 or 25000 Ha. The Chinese agreement with our government turn the urban process more quick but not necessarily more sustainable.

Andre Melo - Thursday, 18 October 2012, 11:54 AMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Dear Ilídio,I certainly agree with you, especially given that the whole country has been characterized by migratory movements in the last three to four decades, and it still goes on. But it is highly important to consider that this kind of land use, be it urban agriculture or other infrastructural urban development, will only be sustainable with a regular, even, and sustainable supply and distribution of water. Electricity supplied in the same manner will take this a step upwards. Amidst the many urgent needs in this regard, it will be more efficient to design and implement small scale production and recycling of water and energy at community level.

Hi everyone,I have spoken about my City in the beginning of the course stressing the real situation in peri urban areas with a total population of about 2.045.000 people in an area of 59.6 km2. Residents have constructed and settle within the areas of Cazenga, Sambizanga and Rangel causing it to expand in a chaotic way since there was no planning to direct the growth of these areas. Now we find unbalanced distribution of land uses, which residential is the predominant (approximately 70%) public facilities 2%, industrial 10%, open space 2% mixed use 1%. (See attached Land use Map). (Source: Source: Luanda Government website). The main challenges within these areas differ from basic service delivery to execution of infrastructure that can better the quality of life of residents. The main problems identified are associated with discharge of sewage waste at open sky; waste disposal at open sky, access to interior of neighbourhoods is difficult due of narrow roads and pathways.

Dear Jose, In my opinion, what you refer to execution of infrastructure that can better the quality of life of residents is aggravate in XXI century in developing countries. Inorganic waste such as plastics for example, are polluting cities and accumulating waste. That produces diseases that are spread more easily in slums. Rapid growth of urbanization and a lack of urban land use planning produce a lot of problems such a lack of urban hygiene. In your city, does the problem of diseases exist because of urban density in peri urban areas?

Dear Laura,My apologies for late replay. But yes we do face disease problems within peri urban areas. As I have mentioned before, that there is a lack of waste management and some sort of ingenuousness of people towards utilization of water and opened disposal. And not only that but people also became victims of fires that break out for using candle light since there is inefficiency of electricity distribution in these areas people are forced to find alternatives.

Dear Jose,The case of your city seems very interesting but in need of raising a lot of alarms as well. I see that service delivery and infrastructure are important for the city development including Peri-urban development; however, sewage waste system seems to me more urgent, which requires immediate attention to avoid longer lasting problems. Any plans how to deal with that?

Hi Jose,What a challenge you have in your hands! May I check, is there a land registry system currently in Luanda? Would this help, do you think? If not, how would you envisage taking control of the such large sprawl?

Dear Linda,There doesn´t exist a concert plan to give any kind of "recognized title" for people who live in peri urban areas. Many people go to the local government to ask for it, but the capacity of local institutions is very weak, some time people wait more than six months for some kind of formal document

Dear all,In my city (Huambo - Angola) more than 80% live in peri urban area that was developed without any kind of plan. During the war people came from rural areas to city and found the peri urban area the place to build their own houses, this situation and other (natural growing) makes the peri urban areas very poor, lacking of all services. The big challenge of government is how to put the infra structure on those places, because there is no space reserved and the lack of regulatory instruments is too evidenced. Other situation is a lack of instruments to monitoring the occupation in areas that government distributed plots to build houses, the consequences is the informal occupation of zones that initially was reserved for public infra structure.

Dear Milena and Klara, In Luanda (Angola) we can identify very similar aspects as you point on Port Vila, Vanuatu. The urban form of the core of Luanda City was mostly planned and built during the colonial period (before 1975). Its suburban area extended to neighbor counties mainly by informal settlements (slums) during the period of pro-independence armed conflict (1975-2002). What I consider the peri-urban areas of Luanda is the territorial expansion started quite after the end of the conflicts and peace instauration (2002 and beyond). Thus, growth in peri-urban areas has being somehow planned under the leapfrogging satellite cities model. Areas formerly occupied by family farms have been replaced by planned settlements, either by the Government itself or by contracted companies, aiming essentially a solution for the housing deficit. Although some "new centralities" have been deployed, these usually lack on services and in some cases even in basic infrastructure (energy, water, sanitation). These initiatives try to attend to a nationwide goal of one million houses, but in some many cases leads basically to dwelling construction, rather than proper integrated urban planning. Housing occupation on these areas happens, then, in the following situations: - housing stock for resettlement of people in previous risk conditions (flood on landslide), but most of these emergencial housing lack on basic infrastructure; - unbuilt ordered land for auto-construction initiatives, but the cadastre system for distributing plots is still inefficient; - housing stock with infrastructure promoted by specific sectors of the Government, which decide independently what families are eligible for occupation; - housing stock (most of these still unhabited) with infrastructure promoted by specific sectors of the Government, built for being sold to medium class profile; - informal housing (slums) on non-occupied land (mainly in areas where the formal plans have not yet taken place); Willing to see your impressions on this situation.

Dear Klara and all,The application of Master plan is very new in Luanda, and I think it was the realization of informal areas and the determination of the authorities to improve standards of living in all spheres of society especially within peri urban areas. And that can only happen if short medium and long term strategic measures are implemented taking into account especially the vulnerable part of the society who needs reintegration in the society.

One of the measures to solve security of tenure in Luanda was to promulgate laws stating that the land is no longer owned by the people but by the state. That only permits the people to have rights over their physical structure (the residence or any other use). It becomes possible to expropriate and relocate residents to other locations once they have agreed on fair recompenses. That helps the state to implement project of social interest within areas of expropriation.

I think simple rules or regulations such as allocation of zoning and permissible land use and building restriction for the stands would be one of the steps to formalize informal areas. Planners should always plan taking in considerations the environment and people´s needs especially try and plan to better the living condition of the most vulnerable of society and keep principles of honesty and never align in corrupt acts. And for citizens who give good examples in terms of respecting the regulation should be introduced in some sort of sensitizing programme to advise others that it’s a crime to do otherwise and the it may became costly for those not willing to follow the rules.

Dear Jose, Thank you for these elaborations. Does your government plan to introduce the expropriation of the urban land in informal areas in near future? What reactions do you expect from existing land owners? Will you be able to promise them short term improvement of living conditions instead? This might be very tricky solution, although very practical one. Would be nice to hear some other opinions on this.

Surely, in Luanda, growth also is happening very fast and in most cases in a disorderly fashion. There are various types of land use in peri-urban areas, but due to the large migratory movement from the countryside to the city in search of better living conditions, these areas are mostly to be used for housing construction. The typology of housing built in these areas is poor where in most cases lack basic infrastructure such as sanitation, clean water, electricity and paved roads, contributing to the emergence of new slums. The critical peri-urban land use is related constructions poor and disordered and without basic conditions of habitability, with absent or weak provision of safe drinking water, sanitation etc..

In Luanda, the growth is also happening very fast and in most cases in a disorderly fashion. In Luanda there are various types of land use, more due afuga vast population of the search for better living conditions, many of the areas being occupied for the construction of housing which mostly without conditions. And within these areas the population is facing a lot of problems that concern the provision of basic services, this being paramount need for improving the quality of life of people.

Dear Peter Ortiz,In my city the right surface of land is very complicated to achieve, don’t you think that the right to land should be a granted at birth? the peri-urban areas in my city serve to drain away any unwanted population of the metropolitan area ... since they cannot complain because they have nothing, are nomads ...

Dear Etelvina,Please download and read this (and look for more information about N'Djamena in internet). I think what you describe for Luanda fits my experience in N'Djamena periphery. After you have a look at it then we see how much of it can be useful for Luanda and how to deal with that peripheral uncontrolled growth.

Allan Cain - Sunday, 30 September 2012, 04:43 PMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Dear Etelvina Saldanha,I think that the difficulty in gaining land tenure "surface rights" in Luanda is due to a combination of reasons. It is partly due to the weak capacity of local urban administrations to process the large number of requests for land registration; partly due to complicated legal regulations; and partly due to vested-interests in keeping these procedures obscure to facilitate "rent seeking".

The large-scale flight of internally displaced people (IDPs) to Luanda that happened over several decades of war resulted in rapid population growth. I don't think that we can call these migrants "nomads" since they have now taken up urban stakes. A study we did last year in partnership with the World Bank demonstrated that over two thirds of these settlers purchased their land and over 80% of peri-urban and slum residents have documentation that they consider legitimate to prove their land tenure claims. However, less that 10% of these urban and peri-urban residents have "surface rights" titles that the government consider legal. That means that most of the urban and peri-urban residents risk expropriation of their houses and the lands that they occupy without legal rights to compensation. We also know that the majority of the assets of the poor are invested in their housing and land and that Angola's weak land tenure rights increases their vulnerability.

We have argued that it will be important for the Angolan Government to adapt land tenure regulations to accommodate and regularize the huge informal land market in cities like Luanda. Securing land tenure rights can be a very effective method of urban poverty reduction by allowing the poor to also benefit from the increasing land values.

Thank you Allan for this detailed information and analysis of the specific problem of Luanda land market and legal framework. I presume that all those developments take place informally, thus the difficulties you describe. Does the administration have any capacity to produce a framework (liberal or interventionist) to create the formal land settlements that will prevent the uncontrolled settlements? Remember that to upgrade a slum costs 3 times more than to create a formal settlement. Do you think there is any chance the Luanda (Angola) Administration would be able to take the initiative of the future instead of being overrun by evolution it cannot grasp? A Capital's development problem in a country where probably the GDP of the Capital will account for 50% of the GDP of the Country is not any more a local problem. It is a national problem, and national authorities should be made accountable for. No? Best, Pedro

PS: Have you had a look to the N'Djamena report? The cost of solving the 'national' problem will just be 5% of the annual oil revenue. If not N'Djamena will become a Ghetto-Metropolis for the long term future.

People need to have a place to live. Don't they? You can not prevent them for the right of having somewhere to live. If you force them not to have that basic human right, to have a house, you are not being socially fair nor equitable with your own people you are suppose to serve. A Government, an Administration, which does not respect the needs and the rights of the population it is supposed to serve is an non-legitime Government. In a Democratic system he will immediately lose the elections and be overthrown. In a Dictatorship may be not, but that does not make that Government more legitimate anyway. That is why I say that you cannot prevent it. Your role, your duty as an Administration is to canalize those needs in the right direction and to provide the instruments for them to be fulfilled. Not to repress them by force and police.

Allan Cain - Sunday, 30 September 2012, 11:13 PMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Dear Pedro,Your assumption is correct that the land market is mainly informal. The settlement process got out of hand due to the almost three decades of war since Angola’s independence in 1975. Little attention was given, even to maintaining infrastructure, as the population of Luanda grew from about 500,000 to over 5 million.While it is evident that slum-prevention must be a key task for Angolan planners today, they must also develop a strategy for the 75% of Luanda's families that live in the inner-city slums/musseques and the peri-urban informal settlements. Thank you, I did download your N'Djamena report and will read it with great interest.I am forwarding an article that I wrote on Post-War Urban Land Markets in Luanda that is forthcoming in Urban Forum Journal.

Pedro Ortiz - Monday, 1 October 2012, 05:22 PMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Very good paper Allan,I highly recommend it to read for everyone. I would like to know who else feels it describes as well the situation in their own city. If not, which are the differences?

Ilídio Daio - Tuesday, 2 October 2012, 10:26 PMRe: Peri-Urban Growth

Dear Pedro, Allan and Etelvina,The Angolan Land Law recognizes the right of land of traditional rural communities but do not allow them saling or leasing. Many current peri-urban areas were farmland, and were sold by traditional rural communities retailing the lands in 20mX30m plots normally. But I think instead Land tenure, should be considered the "Right to City", which could defend the inhabitants of existing slums in the inevitable process of readjustment and urban redevelopment.

Dear Pedro, the peri-urban areas of Luanda, they develop with a discontinuity and lack of coordination along the ring road. We might call "Necklace"? How can the settlements could be coordinated? The creation of this ring road, according to Integrated Plans for urban expansion and infrastructure of Luanda and Bengo – Act. 2011, was to limit the physical expansion of the city with a population of 8 million controllable people within the area bounded by the ring road. Do you think that, with the combination of the spatial model of urban corridors Copenhagen "finger plan" with the proposal of the Law of urban sprawl would be a good idea.

Dear Ilidio. That 2030 Plan you put second in the uploaded file, does not have a structure. It looks just like accepting what is going to happen and just mapping it. On the contrary the first slide which shows trends, forces and tendencies is very clear. It shows a very natural pattern. Uncontrolled natural pattern. It was obvious that the beltway was not going to control growth. Two reasons: First, because the amount of growth has a scale beyond the capacity to be contained by the land provided. It's like trying to contain a flood with a bucket. You will see the the guy crying because he was not able to contain it, but he should not cry because it was obvious for anyone with a larger perspective that he was not going to be able to contain it. Second, because a road (if you do not have the land police capacity) does not contain growth. It attracts it. As you first graphs shows it has been the thread of the necklace. That was obvious. The first ones to overspill that policy was the very own Government allowing the Chinese to build the Housing development south of Luanda. Governments are inconsistent. What one does, the next undoes, if it sees an opportunity to grasp. The Chinese asked for that land promising a lot of good results and the Government could not say no. The result is a housing state of apartment blocks that do not fit the vernacular culture of the Angolan people and is probably given or sold to the 'enbourgeoised' people from the formal economy or Government officials... Very far away from the Government declared intended results. Do you agree? What to do? A real Metropolitan Plan. Based on large amounts of land provision able to respond to the growth needs of Luanda and Angola. How to serve that land?

I would say: 'no need" (see my post to Muhammad Reza Ansari which starts with 'YOU BRING ABOUT AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POINT') but I will nuance that. The important thing is to put things at the right place. It does not matter if you don't have the money to produce the infrastructure. Sooner or later you will have it. When you do, you will have everything in place so it will be easy to put the infrastructure. If you don't have everything in the right place it will be a mess and it will be a mess forever. But if you have 'some' money you can start with the most basic things to foster and promote the layout and plan you have made. You can pave the main thoroughfares. You can put the basic sewage. The main water mains. (Don't worry about the electricity, it will get there anyway... the informal sector is very powerful...) You can set up the plots. You can establish mechanisms of acquisition that will respond to the needs of the families, etc, etc. But for all that. To have a sustainable future. You have to have a vision of a sustainable metropolis. Copenhagen fingers? Madrid BUD's? English New Towns? Latin American metastasis? (Please don't!) That does not show on the proposals you uploaded. But we can work together on that if you want.

Dear Pedro. I fully agree that the Chinese proposal fall far short of expectations. Many African governments like ours, they think quantitatively, to achieve their political agendas fast and inexpensive as possible without concern for sustainability and durability. I read your post and to Muhammad Reza was very enlightening. As cities in Latin America have many years of urban African cities compared in post-conflict situations like ours. We have a lot of work and it would be an honor to work with you in Luanda.